Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - Xbox One

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Summary:

Final Fantasy makes its Western debut as Final Fantasy Type-0 HD for the Xbox One. Step into the fray as Class Zero, a group of fourteen students from an elite military academy whose country is attacked by an aggressive neighboring Empire. Using the powerful abilities and magic of all fourteen characters in fast-paced action-RPG combat, players must face the brutality and injustices of war to uncover the secrets of its genesis.

Technical Information

7.7

'Final Fantasy Type-0 HD' was released for the Xbox One as part of a franchise reboot. The game is next in line of a long legacy that Square Enix has established in the realm of role playing games. If you haven't heard of the 'Final Fantasy' series than you have likely been living under a rock. The series got kickstarted way back when on the Nintendo and it has since hit just about every console there is. We got down to business with the latest game developed by Square Enix in order to see if it lived up to our admittedly high expectations.

Square Enix is one of the best companies in the world of video games when it comes to establishing gigantic living, breathing role playing games. Though their titles have always been elaborate in terms of plot development, it wasn't until the graphical capabilities of consoles got a major boost that we saw the series start to trend into historic direction. 'Final Fantasy VII' was huge for fans every as it marked the first time we really got to see a beautiful Square Enix world. Now we are here, over a decade later, with 'Type-0'. 'Type-0' is the first in what should be a long line of releases for the Xbox One. It is a re-release of a 2011 Japanese only video game and now fans are finally able to get their hands on it.

'Final Fantasy Type-0 HD' contains one of the more mature and dark story lines of the entire series, at least that we can remember off hand. The game is rated mature and it definitely earns it with some of its gritty storytelling. In 'Final Fantasy Type-0 HD' you play as a number of school kids who are forced into a world where they have to play heroes. You play through many missions as these kids and you grow to really appreciate them. At first glance most of the characters seem like stereotypes but those images quickly fade as they are replaced with depth. Typically these characters hit great moments right before they are killed off. We've played many violent video games and yet it was watching these kids get killed that really struck a nerve. Violence against children is seldom seen, even in video games.

The 'Final Fantasy' series has always been known as a game of menus. Most gamers that grew up with the series will remember spending hours upon hours navigating through different stats menus in order to push the game onward. It irritated some players while endearing others. In 'Type-0 HD' it seems like Square Enix wanted to make a more streamlined experience. So the menus aren't as invasive. Also seeing a change was the combat system. No longer completely turn based, 'Final Fantasy Type-0 HD' now has semi real time combat.

Once you hit combat mode you will be tasked with balancing a delicate three man squad. Like in all 'Final Fantasy' games, 'Type-0' is about getting the best group of characters together. These means that you need to partner the best of the best with one another in order to get past some of the admittedly difficult enemies that you will face. Each character has their own strengths and they all, definitely, have their own weaknesses. Though you have three different players on your team at all times, you only ever fully control one of them. Fortunately we have only had positive experiences with the NPC AI teammates (is that redundant? We aren't sure, exactly).

Fighting typically takes place in a fast paced environment. You don't have to deal with menus and you don't have to spend much time picking strategy once the fight has started. Your primary attacks are assigned to your front buttons (A,B,X,Y) while your summons menu can be pulled up by pausing the battle. We found that as we grew stronger the fights went quicker, but were much more intense. The fighting sort of reminded us of Pokemon. The streamlined fighting made us realize how big an effect the handheld port history had on the console version of the game.

Though we had a ton of fun playing 'Final Fantasy Type-0 HD' we found that there were some issues that we could not ignore. None of these are deal breakers but they are all worth mentioning to interested parties.

One of our favorite moments in gaming history was watching the opening video to 'Final Fantasy 8'. The sense of scale, wonder, and magic totally encapsulated everything we loved about gaming. From then on we felt that Square Enix established themselves as master visual storytellers. Sadly we found 'Final Fantasy Type-0 HD' to be lacking in the graphical department. Despite being an HD remaster of the handheld game, the textures still look rather dull on the screen. character models don't seem to have a high polygon count and background elements seemed dull and lifeless.

It doesn't seem to be fair to compare 'Type-0 HD' to other 'Fantasy' games, as this was a port onto a next gen console, but at the same time we can't help but point it out. The lack of graphical improvement IN GAME shows that the team didn't put everything that they could into the port. Still, there are some nice moments. The fights look smooth and electric and the 2D cut scene that started off the game was pretty interesting. We suppose that the longer you play the more used to the look you will get, but it still doesn't strike us as something that should be needed in 2015.

The last issue we had was with the price point of the game. At $60 we should be getting a title that was made for the Xbox One with the intent of delivering a full experience. That is not what 'Final Fantasy Type-0 HD' is. Instead, this is an above average port that lives on the shoulders of the titles that came before it. Entertaining? Sure. As good as it can be? Not quite.

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